Just Another Day
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: The Lightning Knights try and get a piece of the Amulet off Lord Fear. But things don't go quite according to plan... Please R and R. COMPLETE!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Ace Lightning :p

A/n: Yet another piece of something I wrote awhile ago. Hope you like. Set somewhere back in season 1.

**

* * *

Just Another Day **

"_Hey, Mark! I don't think Ace really understands what you have to go through to help him. I mean, he's got it easy. All he's gotta do is shoot up the baddies. You've gotta keep it a secret _and_ try and lead a normal life! Seems a bit unfair. Perhaps you should just forget about it and concentrate on getting your life back to normal."_

"Maybe you're right, Pete. But if I want my life to go back to normal I'm going to have to beat this game first."

* * *

"Ace, are you sure this is going to work?" Mark asked. He, Ace and Sparx were at the carnival, hiding behind one of the game stalls. 

"Sure, kid. You go in and see if you can find Lord Fear's piece of the amulet. Sparx and I'll stay out here and distract him. It should bring all of them out. You shouldn't run into anyone."

"What about getting out?"

"We'll try keep them busy long enough, but if they try anything Sparx can pull you out on the Lightning Flash."

"Is that safe?"

"Hey!" cut in Sparx. "I don't drive that bad. Besides, those villains won't stand a chance. We'll keep them out of your way."

"Just remember, Sparx," said Ace, "We're here for the amulet. Once we've got that we're going. Don't get too carried away."

"Yeah, whatever Ace."

Ace looked around the corner of the stall and saw Pigface and Rat. "Ready, Mark? Once we get their attention get in there." He stepped out into the midway. "I didn't know it was Halloween already."

"Look it's Ace!" said the rat. "Quick, piggy, get him."

Pigface squealed and charged at Ace. Ace just stood there and waited. When Pigface was nearly on him a bolt of electricity shot out from between two stalls and sent Pigface hurling into a stall on the other side, where he disappeared.

"Surprise!" said Sparx, coming out.

"Ahhh!" squealed Rat. He flew off to find some help. Ace shot a few bolts of electricity at him as he left, but none of them hit. He wanted Rat to get help.

Rat returned quickly, along with Lord Fear.

"You dare invade my domain!" yelled Lord Fear. "You've made a big mistake."

Lord Fear grinned as all his Evils began to appear from different parts of the carnival.

_Perfect,_ thought Ace. He turned to Sparx. "Looks like we've got a fight on our hands."

Sparx grinned back at him and powered up her sword.

Seeing things were going to plan, Mark made his way into the Haunted House. He looked around a bit and soon found the amulet. It was just sitting on the side of the organ. Lord Fear had been way too confident.

He raced back outside. Ace and Sparx were doing surprisingly well and had already defeated Googler. Ace was working on Anvil, but had to keep an eye on Lord Fear as well, who was shooting at him every time he got the chance.

Ace shot a lightning bolt into Anvil, which sent him reeling back into a stall. It fell to pieces on his head and he disappeared. He saw that Mark had made it out. "Sparx! Let's get out of here."

"Aw!" said Sparx. But she didn't argue.

Lord Fear was confused. They were destroying his Evils and they wanted to leave?

Rat, however, saw what was going on. "Boss, the kid! He's got your piece of the amulet!"

"What! This has all been a cunning trick!"

"Yeah, and you fell for it," said Ace. "Sparx, get Mark out of here."

"Grr! Make up your mind!" grumbled Sparx. "Lightning Flash! To me!"

Lady Illusion wasn't going to let her get away that easily. She threw a crystal ball bomb at the Lightning Flash and sent it spinning into the ground. Sparx had to dodge out of the way to avoid getting hit.

Lord Fear turned around to face Mark. "You think you're so smart, you puny mortal? Save yourself from this!" He picked up Staff, took aim and fired an energy bolt at him.

"Mark! Watch out!" called Ace. As if he had to tell him. Ace tried to knock Mark out of the way. He wasn't quite fast enough. He managed to get there in time though.

The energy bolt ploughed into both of them. It hit Mark's piece of the amulet dead centre.

Sparx looked up in time to see the energy hit the amulet and then seemingly explode back out in a blinding flash of white light. The light tore down the centre of the carnival and then dissipated into nothing.

"What the heck was that?" asked the rat.

The explosion of light had knocked both Ace and Mark over, and Mark had dropped Lord Fear's piece of the amulet. Lord Fear picked it back up off the ground. "I believe this belongs to me." He turned Staff back at Mark, who was just sitting up off the ground.

Mark looked up and saw Staff pointing at him.

"Say your prayers, mortal," gloated Staff.

"Hold it right there!" growled Sparx. She began walking towards Lord Fear. "Now I'm really ticked off. You get your bony butt back into that Haunted House or I'll send all of you creeps back into oblivion."

"Yeah right," said Rat, "you couldn't…"

He was cut off when Sparx shot a lightning bolt into him and sent him spinning into the air, where he disappeared.

"I believe the party's over," said Staff, "if you get my drift."

"Indeed, my loyal Staff. I wouldn't try that again, Sparx. You won't get away with it next time!" Lord Fear retreated back into the Haunted House along with Staff and Lady Illusion.

"Well we almost had it," said Sparx.

Mark had gotten up off the ground and was dusting himself off. But he stopped halfway through and stared at his hands.

Ace was still on the ground, looking a bit confused.

"Hey, Ace. You alright?" asked Sparx.

Ace looked up at her then exchanged looks with Mark. "Yeah… but I'm not Ace."


	2. I'm not me!

A/n: Next chapter!!! Yeah so my bias toward Star Trek and some Lord of the Rings got in there. And bias against a few other things. Go figure. Enjoy! And review!

* * *

"Right," said Sparx, "let me get this straight. Somehow you two have switched bodies? I hear it, but I'm not sure I buy it." 

"I wouldn't either," said Mark, "except that now I can stick my hand in a million volt transformer and it's actually healthy!" He emphasised the point by doing just that. "What happened, Ace? The rule book doesn't say anything about it."

"I told you, kid, this is a new dimension and a new set of rules. It must have been the amulet. That thing's pretty powerful. All that energy Lord Fear shot at it must have gone somewhere."

"Great! What are we going to do now?"

"At least Lord Fear doesn't know what's happened," said Sparx.

"Good, I don't think I know how to shoot these things," said Mark, looking at his wrist cannons.

"It's all in the wrist, kid."

"Thanks, Ace. That's really helpful."

"You're welcome." Ace looked at Mark, or rather himself. "I'm taller then I think."

Mark rolled his eyes.

"This is getting confusing!" grumbled Sparx.

"You're not stuck in this!" exclaimed Mark, gesturing down at himself.

"Hey! You make that sound like it's a bad thing."

"I didn't mean it quite like that. What are we going to do! I can't go home like this!"

"So… don't," said Ace. "Stay here until we can get this figured out."

"I can't! I'm supposed to be home in an hour."

"Right. _Now_ you've got a problem."

"Maybe not," said Sparx.

"What?" they both asked.

"Well, Ace, as far as anyone else is concerned you're Mark so why don't you go cover for him. And Mark, since you're in Ace's body, you can stay here so the bad guys don't think we're vulnerable."

"But I can't shoot."

"They don't know that. Besides, I'll teach you."

"But, Sparx, you can't shoot that well either," said Ace.

"So?" growled Sparx.

"Wait!" said Mark. "This isn't a good idea. Ace can't cover for me. It's too hard! There's too much… politics… and, and… Oh no! I have a test tomorrow!" He started to panic a bit and nearly shot a hole in the roof when his wrist cannons went off.

"See," said Sparx, "he's learning already."

"Come on, kid. How hard can it be? You want hard? Try being a superhero."

"I guess I'm going to have to."

"So, you ready to do this?"

"I am if you are."

"Right. Wish me luck." Ace picked up Mark's bike and after inspecting it tried to ride it… and nearly fell off. "I'll… figure that out tomorrow," he said and walked it out instead.

"Help," said Mark, when Ace had left, "my life is over."

Sparx shrugged. "Could be worse."

"How?"

"You could've switched with me."

* * *

"Mark, there you are. It's nearly teatime. Where were you?" 

"Um, hi… Mum. Just saving the world and stuff."

"Okay… but just make sure you get home in time. Now go set the table."

"Um… right."

Ace started looking through the kitchen cupboards.

"Mark… the plates are in that cupboard."

"Right, I knew that."

Ace finally managed to set the table. Unfortunately he didn't get the cutlery quite right.

"Mark," said Fiona, "you've given me two forks."

"I've got a spoon…" said Simon.

"Oh… sorry!" Ace started to rearrange the cutlery. "Um… what am I supposed to give you again?"

"One fork and one knife," said Fiona.

"Right, I'll go get some." Ace disappeared into the kitchen.

"Simon, are you sure Mark's alright? He's been acting a bit strange."

"Well he does have a science test tomorrow, maybe he's stressing out?"

"Oh, has he studied for that?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Mark," asked Fiona when Ace came back in, "have you studied for that science test tomorrow?"

"Ahh…" said Ace. How was he supposed to know? "Yeah, I studied for that." At least he hoped Mark had so that he wouldn't be lying. Then again Mark had been helping him a lot lately so he probably hadn't had the time. "Is it important?"

"Yes it's important! It counts for fifty percent of your science marks. You do know everything don't you?"

Ace figured he'd better say yes, Mark's Mum seemed a bit flustered. "Don't worry; I've got it under control." Which wasn't entirely true. Whether Mark had studied or not didn't matter; it'd have no effect on the test. Ace didn't feel too good about having to be dishonest.

"Okay, Mark," said Fiona, "just as long as you're confident."

Ace sat down and started trying to figure out how to actually use the cutlery.

* * *

Back at the Thunder Tower, Mark was looking through the cupboard for something to do. "Who lived here!?" he exclaimed after pulling out a Twister game, two Britney Spears albums and a yellow Furby. 

"Hug me!!!" said the Furby.

"Ahh!!!"

"Watch out for the yellow thing," said Sparx, without even looking up from the book she was reading. "You won't find anything anyway."

"What are you reading anyway?"

Sparx flashed the cover at him.

"A romance novel?!"

"Like I said there's nothing in here." She read a few more words. "Ah, yuck! I don't want to know that!!!" Sparx threw the book in the general direction of the rubbish bin where it joined about three other romance novels.

"Right, then I'm going to bed," said Mark.

"You don't have to go to sleep if you're already powered up."

"Force of habit," replied Mark. "Besides, there's nothing to do and I'm not even going to try reading any of the books in here."

"That would probably be a good idea. Alright, see you tomorrow."

Two hours later Mark was fast asleep leaning on the desk and Sparx was reading a Star Trek novel, which was probably the only decent book in the whole observatory.

"The rock has spoken, you must obey!" said Mark suddenly.

"Pardon?!" exclaimed Sparx, looking up from her book. She wondered for a second if she had imagined it as Mark seemed to be asleep.

"It was given to me, my precious," sneered Mark and then snored loudly.

"O-kay…" said Sparx. At least this wasn't as bad as the time Ace had fallen asleep and spent the next three hours proclaiming his undying love for Lady Illusion. That had been a heck of a lot 'I love you's.'

"Mmm… pudding," continued Mark.

"This is gonna be a long night…" groaned Sparx.


	3. Live with it

"Mark! Get out of bed! You'll miss the school bus!"

"Huh, what?" said Ace waking up suddenly.

"Hurry up and get ready," continued Fiona, "your bus will be here in fifteen minutes."

"I have a bus?" asked Ace sleepily.

"Very funny Mark. Now get dressed or you'll be late."

"Oh, right," said Ace finally waking up properly. He got ready as quickly as possible, which actually took awhile since he had no idea where Mark kept anything. He managed to find every thing after a few minutes and was just trying to figure out which way he was supposed to put his pants on when the phone rang.

Ace looked around and saw it sitting across the other side of the room on the desk. He went to walk over and get it, but, as trying to walk with your pants only halfway up is not very smart, ended up on the floor.

"Hang on!" called Ace from the ground. He dragged himself over to the desk and finally managed to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Ace? It's Mark." Mark was sitting on the desk in the Thunder Tower, playing with a red bouncy ball he'd found lying around. "How'd you go with my Mum and Dad?"

"Relax, kid. They don't suspect a thing. At least… I don't think they do…"

"Great. Where are you now?"

"In your room."

"What? Ace, you'd better hurry up and get downstairs or you'll miss the bus. What are you doing in there?"

"If you must know I'm trying to put on my pants."

"Okay, I didn't need to know that."

"You asked."

"Right… just get to school before…"

"Mark!" called Simon from downstairs. "What are you doing? The bus just left."

"Too late…" groaned Mark.

"Okay, so I missed the bus. What do I do now?"

"Ride the bike."

"Oh… great."

"Good luck," said Mark, hanging up, "you'll need it."

"Hey, Mark!" said Sparx. "Ready to kick some bad guy butt?! Or… at least some bits of cardboard that look like them… sort of…"

"Why not?" replied Mark. _I just better hope I have better luck living Ace's life then he'll have living mine._

Mark jumped off the desk and flicked the red bouncy ball he'd been playing with out of his hand. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account that, with Ace's super strength, a flick would put enough energy into the ball to send it into orbit.

"Mark!!!" yelled Sparx as the bouncy ball flew just over her head, ricocheted off the walls half a dozen times and then flew out the roof.

"Whoops… sorry."

"Right, I guess we'd better work on the super strength thing too…"

* * *

Ace had found that the bike wasn't that hard to ride once he'd got on it. But along with just having got a new body and the fact that he'd never ridden a bike before he was having a bit of a problem making it go in a straight line. 

"Sorry!" he called out to an agitated driver who he'd just swerved in front of.

"Stupid kid! Watch where you're going!"

Ace finally made it to the school.

"Morning, Mark," called Sam as Ace pulled up.

"Oh, hi," said Ace. He tried to slow down but, as he had forgotten where the brakes were, ended up in the bushes.

!CRASH!

"Ow!"

"Mark, are you alright?"

"I'm not Mark, I'm… ah… Mark!"

"Okay, then… I guess it was a good thing you were wearing a helmet." She helped Ace out of the garden. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Hey, dude," said Chuck, arriving just as Sam went inside. "You don't seem to be having much luck impressing the ladies."

"I don't see how falling into the bush would…"

"Dude… you're not supposed to fall into the bush."

"Right, I'll… try to keep that in mind."

"Just stick with your pal Chucky. I'll look after you." Chuck grabbed Ace and started to drag him towards the school.

"This dimension just gets weirder every day…"

* * *

"Ok, Mark," said Sparx. "Ready for this? Just point and shoot like this…" Sparx took a shot at the Lord Fear cutout (conveniently found somewhere around the Thunder Tower). It flew over its head by a few inches. 

"Darn! Not like that. Try aiming for the middle." She shot at it again. This time she shot it in the leg. "Close enough! Your turn!"

* * *

"Um… Chuck. Can you help me open this?" asked Ace. Trying to rip the door off its hinges hadn't worked. 

"Sure, dude," replied Chuck.

"Thanks." Ace looked inside the locker at all the junk. "Whoa… What am I supposed to take?" He settled on taking a couple of books and the pencil case.

He tried to get the locker to shut. It didn't seem to be working so he slammed his shoulder into it, finally getting it to close. "Ow… that hurt." He did it again just to be sure. "Ow! Weird…"

"Mark, are you feeling alright?"

"Sure… maybe a little disorientated. Let's go." He began walking off.

"Dude, class is this way."

"Right, I knew that."

* * *

"Like this, Sparx?" asked Mark, having managed to get about one third of his shots to hit the target, though it had taken him nearly half an hour. "Sparx?" 

Sparx was shooting at the Lady Illusion cut out for all she was worth.

"Sparx…? Sparx!!!"

"What? Oh, sorry. Stress relief. You're harder to teach than I thought."

"Thanks…"

The Lady Illusion cutout's head suddenly fell off.

"Right," said Sparx, "We're going to need some more targets…"

* * *

Orbiting the earth, two astronauts contemplated a strange object floating outside their shuttle. 

"What do you suppose it is, sir?" asked the younger astronaut.

"It appears to be a red sphere of some sort. I don't know where it's come from. We don't have anything like that up here. And I don't see how it could have come up from the earth."

"Sir… do you think… it could have come from somewhere else?"

"You mean another planet?"

"Well… yeah. Maybe someone even sent it to us on purpose. I mean, it can't be an asteroid it's too perfect."

"You mean a message from another world? You could be right! Quick! Suit up. This could be a major break through!!!"

* * *

In the computer class, Ace was trying to work out how to use the computer mouse. He was playing with the bit on the bottom and accidentally dropped the little ball. 

"Darn…"

Ace went under the desk and started searching for it.

"Mark, what are you doing?" asked Chuck.

"Lost the mouse ball," said Ace from under the desk.

"How can you lose a mouse ball?"

Ace finally found the ball and put it back in the mouse. "It fell out."

"Oh…"

* * *

"Ok, this isn't going to work…" 

Sparx was using the disk-shooting machine to try and get Mark to hit a moving target. It didn't seem to be working though.

"Just a few more," Mark replied. "I've nearly got them."

"Did you notice the holes in the roof?"

"What?" Mark looked up. "Whoops…"

* * *

Ace was sitting in class when he felt a piece of paper hit him. Turning around he saw Wayne smirking at him. 

"Wasn't me," Wayne mouthed innocently. But he made it obvious that it was.

Ace tried to ignore him but by the time he'd been hit with the fourth bit of paper decided to retaliate. He didn't know if Mark would like him ripping paper out of his book so he waited until the teacher wasn't looking and threw an empty glue stick instead.

It hit Wayne in the head and knocked him out of his chair. The class erupted in laughter.

"Wayne!" said the teacher. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't rock on your chair."

"Ow…"

* * *

"Sparx, I don't mind learning to shoot stuff, but I am not going to fly." 

Sparx had Mark up with her on the Lightning Flash and was trying to convince him to fly.

"Come on, it's not that hard."

"No way."

"Fine, I tried it the easy way. Now I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."

"What?"

Sparx suddenly rolled the Lightning Flash making Mark fall off.

"Ahh!" Mark fell off and landed on the ground. "Ow."

"Whoops… I was sure that would work."

* * *

"You know, my lady, you haven't been doing much lately in the way of destroying Ace Lightning." 

"You know how I feel about that!" growled Lady Illusion under her breath. She wished Staff Head would keep it down.

"It's just that you don't seem to have been any use to Lord Fear lately," Staff continued. "He could be losing confidence in you."

"Really? I know what you're up to. Don't think it'll work."

"It's just a warning," said Staff with false sincerity. "I would hate to think what Lord Fear would do if he found out you were a traitor."

"It's not my fault!" said Lady Illusion, taking the bait. "And I'm no traitor. I've tried to get us out of this dimension and we can do it without destroying Ace. It's just that the mortal keeps on getting in our way."

"How sad. Pity you can't just destroy him, but of course you don't want to hurt Ace now do you?"

"What? All right, you want proof I'm not a traitor? Fine, then I'll destroy Ace's sidekick right now. He'll be at school so he won't be able to get Ace's help. Once he's gone we'll be able to get out of this dimension… and not hurt Ace doing it!" Lady Illusion morphed out.

Staff shook his head. How Lady Illusion expected destroying the mortal to not hurt Ace in itself he didn't know. Still he wasn't going to point out the fatal flaw in her plan; neither was he going to argue.


	4. Twister, etc

In the school cafeteria Ace was inspecting what was apparently lunch.

"Is this supposed to be food?" he asked, poking it with his fork.

"This is delicious!" exclaimed Chuck through a mouthful of food. "What are you talking 'bout, Mark?"

Ace glanced between his food and Chuck for several seconds before replying. "What I had for breakfast was food. I don't think this is food."

"I hear ya, man," laughed Brett. He stopped suddenly. "Wait… I think it just moved."

Ace looked outside and saw Mark at the window. _What's he doing here?_ Ace thought. _He should be back at the Thunder Tower with Sparx._ Then again, something could've gone wrong.

Mark saw he had Ace's attention and gestured for him to come outside before flying off.

"Hi, Mark," said Sam, arriving at the table.

"Hi," replied Ace, "listen, I've gotta go see someone. See ya later."

Sam growled as Ace left. "There he goes again!"

Outside the school 'Mark' landed then morphed into Lady Illusion. She grinned evilly and powered up a crystal ball bomb.

* * *

"Look, Mark, I'm sorry I pushed you off the Lightning Flash. I really thought you would've flown." 

"Well, apparently not."

"It was pretty funny though," Sparx giggled.

"I'm glad you thought so. Can you just make your move?"

"I can't reach the spinner."

"If you want me to do it, forget it. If you remember the last time I spun it took it five minutes to stop. At least now I know why Ace finds it so hard not to break everything he touches."

"Fine, I'll try." Sparx stretched out and managed to spin it. "Got it. I like this game. Ace usually wants to play chess and stuff, but this is much more exciting. What's it called again?"

"Twister."

"Right, I got left-hand, green."

Sparx attempted to manoeuvre onto a free circle but ended up falling over flat on her back.

"Grr!" Suddenly she noticed that Dirty Rat was sitting up on the roof watching them. "Hey! Get lost, hairy ears!" she pulled out her sword and shot a lightning bolt at the rat, knocking off his hat.

"Eeek!" said Rat in fright. He flew away quickly.

"How long was he sitting there?" asked Mark, standing up.

"Too long. We probably should've noticed him sooner. I wonder how much he's overheard?"

"I have a bad feeling about this. Perhaps we'd better call Ace."

* * *

"Hey, kid, where are you?" called Ace. He'd managed to get outside but couldn't seem to find Mark anywhere. "You know if I get caught out here you're the one who's going to get in trouble, not me." Still not seeing him Ace walked towards the corner of the building. "So stop…" 

Suddenly a bomb exploded right at Ace's feet. "Woah!" He jumped back out of the way.

"Don't think you're going to escape this alive," said Lady Illusion, stepping around the corner. "That was just a warning shot."

"You're just saying that because you missed," taunted Ace. Then he realised that being mortal and having bombs thrown at him wasn't a good combination. He ducked just as a crystal ball flew over his head and exploded.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ace said, backing off.

"Give me one good reason." Lady Illusion powered up another bomb.

"Because I'm not who you think I am."

"What?" said Lady Illusion, puzzled. She lowered her bomb slightly.

"Look, that white light at the carnival yesterday. It made me and Mark switch bodies. So he's in my body and I'm in his. If you destroy me you… destroy me."

"You're lying," Lady Illusion said, but she didn't sound entirely convinced.

"No, I'm not."

Lady Illusion finally powered down her crystal ball bomb. "That's really you, Ace? Sorry, I wasn't trying to destroy you. I was trying to get the meddling mortal."

"That's alright. I…" Ace stopped. "Wait a minute. You came here to destroy Mark?!"

"Yes…" said Lady Illusion, only now beginning to realise her mistake. She tried to explain. "He would've only got in the way."

"He would not! Is that why you wanted him destroyed?"

"Ace, I want us to be together! Every time we try he stuffs it up! I thought you would understand. He's just a mortal. Our love is worth his destruction."

"Nothing is worth that, least of all this relationship! You stay away from Mark! If you lay one hand on that kid I'll send you into oblivion myself!!!"

The sound of Ace's phone interrupted them.

"You're only going to make this harder, Ace!" growled Lady Illusion. She morphed out.

Ace sighed and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ace, it's Mark. We've got a problem."

"What? What's going on?"

"Rat was here. I don't know if he's realised what's going on but if he has we're going to be in trouble."

"That's not the half of it, kid. Lady Illusion was here trying to destroy me… well, you actually."

"Why?! What did I do?"

"She said you were getting in the way of… various things. Apparently she thought she could go behind my back and get rid of you."

"I hate to say I told you so… " muttered Sparx, who had been listening in.

"Sparx, I can hear you," groaned Ace.

"That makes things worse," continued Mark. "Even if Rat hasn't worked out what's going on Lady Illusion will know."

"Yeah, and I don't think she'll have any problem destroying you either. Not that I can help much as you would know."

"Well, what are we going to do? I can't defeat them. Maybe I should go ask Random Virus to help."

"That won't be easy…"

"It's better than nothing."

"Right, just be careful. See ya kid."

* * *

"Random Virus!?" Where are you? We need to talk!" Mark called into the junkyard. 

Sparx had flown Mark to the junkyard on the Lightning Flash and now they were trying to locate Random Virus. The junkyard was eerily quiet. Storm clouds were brewing overhead and the gloom they cast, along with the thunder in the distance, only made it seem spookier.

"Careful, Mark," said Sparx. "Somehow I don't think this is going to be easy."

"I've got him to help me before. I should be able to do it again."

"Don't think because you've done it once it'll work the same again. Something's really wrong with that rust bucket, don't expect him to play by any rules."

"Right…" said Mark. "Random! Where is he? I hope he's not out destroying something."

"Mark! Watch out!" yelled Sparx suddenly.

Mark looked up to see the arm of a rusty, old crane swinging through the air, straight towards him. He hit the dirt as it flew over his head.

"Cowards!" yelled Random Virus as he screeched around the corner of a pile of junk.

"Yeah, and I suppose attacking someone from behind and not even doing it yourself doesn't count!" retaliated Sparx.

"You are weak! You deserve to be destroyed!"

"Look, Random," said Mark getting up off the ground, "we need your help."

"Help is for weaklings and cowards!" growled Random Virus closing in on Mark.

It was now that Mark wished he had learnt to fly. But since that wasn't an option he just stood his ground. It probably wasn't the smartest strategy, but he felt taller in Ace's body.

Sparx saw what he was doing and jumped off the Lightning Flash beside him. "Hope this works, kid," she said.

Random Virus got within two feet of them. "Why don't you run!?" he growled when they didn't move.

"We're not going without your help," said Mark, trying to keep his voice form shaking. He knew that Random could quite easily destroy him before he even had a chance to react.

Random Virus just stood there waiting for them to do something. He couldn't seem to attack them when they were showing no sign of being afraid or of even doing anything. In his state of confusion his good side made a grab for control.

Sparx and Mark jumped as the cars in the junkyard suddenly went haywire. It sort of messed up their strategy but Random Virus was too busy with another battle.

"Stop it!" he growled. "What's going on? Ace?"

"Not quite…" said Mark.

"What? Did I miss something more than usual?"

"We've got a problem," Sparx explained. "Something happened at the Carnival and now Ace and Mark have switched bodies. So that's Mark."

"And we need your help," Mark continued. "I don't make a very good superhero."

"Well, you've got some big shoes to fill, kid. But I'm not sure you want my help."

"Ace trusts you," pointed out Mark.

"Ace doesn't know me as well as he used to."

"Look, Random," said Sparx, "we'll probably end up destroyed anyway if you don't help. You can't just hide in the junkyard."

Random looked down at the ground. "You can't hide from yourself." He paused for a second. "Get out of here."

"What?" asked Mark, confused.

Sparx saw that the cars had started up again. "Mark, I think we'd better go."

"But… we need his help."

"Well, I don't think we're getting it today. Lightning Flash! To me!" Sparx grabbed Mark by the collar and practically dragged him onto the machine.

"That really didn't go well," said Mark once they had flown away from the junkyard.

"Congratulations! You win the understatement of the week award!"

"Sparx."

"Sorry."

"What do we do now?"

"Now? We get ready to kick some bad guy butt."


	5. Sorting everything out

Back at the school, Ace was in science class. Mr Cheseborough was going on about how hard the test he was about to hand out was. And also how important it was.

"This is great…" said Ace sarcastically. He was just about to further mess up Mark's life, considering how much the teacher was going on about the importance of the test. Ace knew he'd probably have no idea what any of the questions were about. He smacked himself in the head with one of his books. "Ow…" He'd forgotten about the pain thing again.

"Dude, what's up with you?" asked Chuck from beside him. "You've been acting strange all day."

"You have no idea."

"Don't worry about the test though. Cheesy will fail everyone anyway."

"That seems a bit unfair."

"Since when is he fair?"

"Alright all you horrible, little people," said Mr Cheseborough, "test conditions start now. If you have any questions – too bad, you should've studied. As soon as you get your papers you can start. You'll need all the time you can get."

The class let out a collective groan.

Ace got his paper and made sure he remembered to put Mark's name on it. At least he'd get that question right. Then he looked at the subject of the paper. He smiled.

* * *

"Boss, they were acting really strange," explained the rat. "They had these cardboard cut outs of us and they were using them as targets, or something." 

"What!?" growled Lord Fear. "How dare they! They will pay dearly for this!"

"That's not the only thing, boss. Ace wasn't hitting them half the time. I thought he was a better shot than that."

"Perhaps something's wrong," said Lord Fear. "Maybe this is a good chance to attack."

"Or it could be a trap, my lord," offered Staff.

"Believe me, it is no trap."

Lord Fear turned around to find that Lady Illusion had appeared. "Really, my lady. And why is that?"

Lady Illusion explained what she had found out.

"This is a perfect opportunity!" said Lord Fear. "We'll be able to destroy both his sidekicks and he will be powerless to stop us! Come my evils. We're going to pay them a little visit."

* * *

Science class was over and Ace figured he'd better get down to the Thunder Tower, even if he couldn't do much to help. He opened his locker and threw his books in before he left and was about to do so when Sam appeared. 

"Hey, Mark."

"Oh, hi Sam."

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come and get some pizza."

"Sorry, I can't," said Ace shutting the locker door. "I've got to get somewhere."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't you always? Mark, what is it with you? You're always running off somewhere."

"Hey, it's… well, it's really important, Ok?"

"Uh-huh. You going to tell me what's so important?"

Ace paused. "… I can't."

"Figured as much." She walked off.

Ace stared after her for a moment, thinking. Then he decided he'd better get going. He got outside and then realised it was raining.

"Oh great! I can't even fly there!" Ace groaned. "No, I get stuck with the bike!" But he knew he had to get to the Thunder Tower. So he got on the bike and wobbled off down the street.

Just then a car drove past. As it did it raced through a puddle, spraying water all over Ace.

"Ha! Take that you little brat!" It was the driver Ace had swerved in front of that morning.

Ace rolled to a stop and took his helmet off to shake out the water. "Do kids get any respect?" he wondered.

He looked up at the storm clouds, watched the lightning flash across them, followed a few seconds later by a rumble of thunder. Right now Ace thought it would be easier being a Lightning Knight. Especially after experiencing all the stuff that Mark had to put up with every day.

At least now Ace had an idea why Mark didn't like being called a Lightning Knight. He didn't feel like he could be much of one at the moment either. How was he supposed to help Mark and Sparx anyway? The he remembered something Mark had said. _Ace, you don't need superpowers to save someone._ He'd been right too. Mark always seemed to find a way to help no matter what.

_And so can I_ thought Ace. He put back on his helmet and got back on the bike. "The fight's not over, Fear!" Ace raced off towards the Thunder Tower.

* * *

"Sparx, I'm not sure if we can pull this off," said Mark. He and Sparx were back at the Thunder Tower, waiting for the evils to arrive, as they were sure they would. 

"Why not?" asked Sparx. She swung her sword over her head, practicing.

"I'm not a Lightning Knight. I can't even shoot straight."

Sparx stopped and looked at him. "Since when does that define a Lightning Knight?"

"Sparx! How many times do I have to tell you guys? I'm not a Lightning Knight."

"Whatever! That doesn't change the fact that Lord Fear is coming and we have to stop him."

"What if we can't?"

"Don't be so negative. We will."

"I'm being realistic."

Sparx rolled her eyes. "Mark."

"Yeah."

"Just shut up and shoot at the bad guys!"

Mark shut up.

"Look," continued Sparx, "sorry. I shouldn't have said that. But seriously, just shoot at them."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"What?"

"What if we can't beat them?"

"You don't want to know the answer to that. Losing isn't an option."

"Right."

Suddenly Lord Fear appeared in the doorway. "Anyone home?" he asked then shot a bolt of energy at Mark.

Sparx dodged in front of him and deflected the energy into the roof with the Sword of Jacob.

"Well," continued Lord Fear, "what have we here? Two little sidekicks and no superhero to save them."

Dirty Rat and Lady Illusion followed him into the Thunder Tower.

"You only brought these two?" asked Sparx. "I think you're being a little overconfident."

"You can talk," retaliated Lord Fear. "What happened to the standard insult?"

"I thought I'd save it for when we beat you."

"I wouldn't count on it."

Mark came and stood beside Sparx. "At least we can count."

Lord Fear growled angrily. "You're going to regret this!" He powered up Staff Head.

"Mark."

"Yeah."

"This is the part where you DUCK!"

A bolt of energy flew over their heads.

Sparx deflected the next one with her sword.

Lady Illusion powered up a crystal ball and used it to separate Mark and Sparx.

"Mark, where are you?" called Sparx through the smoke. There was no way she was going to let Lord Fear get him.

"You foolish mortal!" said Lord Fear, moving in on Mark. "There's no way you can stand against us."

"Not quite." Mark fired a lightning bolt at Lord Fear. It just barely missed him.

Lord Fear looked startled.

"What's going on with you and Ace?" Lady Illusion growled at Sparx.

"What!?"

Lady Illusion powered up a bomb and threw it. "You know what I mean."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Sparx destroyed the bomb and then fired a lightning bolt.

Lady Illusion dodged it.

* * *

Ace rode up to the Thunder Tower and screeched to a halt. He hoped all the noise he was now hearing was just thunder and was not coming from inside. 

He peered in the door and had to jump out of the way to avoid a stray crystal bomb.

Lord Fear saw him. "Well if it isn't Ace Lightning!" He turned around and powered up Staff. He was about to shoot when Mark fired a bolt of lightning into Staff, throwing off Lord Fear's aim. The energy hit the rat, who was hovering around.

"Aiyee!" squealed Rat as he disappeared.

"Wow! It went where I wanted it to!"

"Nice shot, kid!" said Ace.

"But it'll be his last!" laughed Lord Fear, firing a bolt of energy into Mark and sending him skidding across the floor.

"Mark!" called Ace. He tried to help but had to hide behind the desk as a crystal ball exploded to close for comfort.

"Darn!" said Sparx, realising she had been distracted by Lady Illusion. "Hang on Mark!"

Suddenly Lady Illusion lunged at her, morphing into a tiger in mid-air. She landed on Sparx, pinning her to the ground and knocking her sword out of reach.

"Oh-oh," said Sparx. "Someone's been watching too much Discovery Channel."

Lady Illusion growled back.

Ace looked at the telescope in the middle of the observatory. Lord Fear was standing right next to the end of it. Ace got an idea. He quickly ran over to a control panel and pressed some buttons.

"Say good-bye you meddling mortal!" said Lord Fear, pointing Staff at Mark.

Suddenly the telescope swung around 180 degrees. The end pointing up came downwards and knocked Lord Fear into the wall.

"What the!!!"

"Thanks Ace."

"No problem, kid."

"Um, guys," called Sparx. "A little help here…"

"Right, sorry." Mark shot a bolt of lightning at Lady Illusion. It hit about 2 feet away from her. "Oh, no. I missed."

Lady Illusion turned towards Mark and moved closer, roaring angrily.

"Um, Ace… I think I'm running out of power. What do I do?"

"Try moving," Ace called from behind the controls.

"What?"

"Move before she bites your head off."

"Okay…" Mark began to back away.

Lady Illusion stalked after him.

Sparx waited until Lady Illusion was distracted then crawled out from under her and grabbed the Sword of Jacob. "Heads up, fleabag." She shot a lightning bolt into Lady Illusion, who morphed back.

"My lord, this doesn't seem to be going as planned," pointed out Staff Head.

"Say what?" asked Lord Fear still a bit dazed.

"I think we'd better leave," said Lady Illusion. She'd backed into the wall after being shot at by Sparx.

"I can't see how we lost to a mere mortal and this sidekick," growled Lord Fear getting up off the ground.

"Don't underestimate the sidekicks," grinned Sparx. She pointed her sword at them. "So are you going to leave, or what?"

"You won't be so lucky next time!" said Lord Fear. "Next time we'll be prepared to destroy you!" He left with Staff and Lady Illusion.

"Nice job, you two," said Ace. "I couldn't have done it better myself."

"They'll be back again, won't they?" said Mark.

"Ah… yeah."

Mark paused for a second. "Ace… I don't know if I can do this. I thought it was hard enough just helping you guys but this is impossible."

"Come on, kid. You did pretty good."

"Ace! I fluked it. I have no idea how I managed to hit Lord Fear. I can't fly at all. And Random Virus is just… I don't know. He's so unpredictable and just plain messed up. I don't know what I'd do if Chuck or Sam or any of my friends ended up like that."

Ace looked at the ground. "Well, if it's any consolation… your life isn't as easy as I thought either."

"Perhaps we need to find a way to fix this," said Sparx after she saw no one was saying anything. "Otherwise we're all done for."

"I'd better power up first," said Mark. "I think my power's running low."

As if hearing him a bolt of lightning from the overhead thunderstorm shot down through the roof and hit the telescope. Mark and Ace were standing right next to it and the lightning jumped to the amulet hanging around Ace's neck. For the second time they were thrown to the floor by a massive burst of energy.

"Are you two okay?" asked Sparx when the afterimage had cleared from her eyes.

"I think so… Hey! I'm me again!" said Ace happily. "Mark, we're back to normal."

"Ow…" said Mark.

"You okay, kid?"

"I just got hit by lightning. That hurts you know."

"Oh."

Mark sat up. "That was interesting… I hope it never happens again."

"Yeah, you said it, kid."

* * *

"And today, a strange find in space. Two astronauts have found what appears to be a message from an alien intelligence. Experts are currently trying to decipher the alien code but as yet are unable to figure out how to even unload the data. Despite intensive scanning they haven't worked out how to operate the device which appears to be a round, rubber sphere of some sort. More on this later. In other news…" droned the TV in the background. 

"So, Ace," said Sparx. "What was it like being mortal for a day?"

"Harder than you'd think."

"Yeah."

"Well, it was only for a day. I suppose it was kind of fun. Except that test I did for Mark was really weird."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. It was just… really stupid questions."

"Like what?"

* * *

"Mr Hollander," said Mr Cheseborough. "I'm very surprised at your work!" 

"In what way, sir?" asked Mark. His mum was going to kill him.

"I don't know how you did it. I know you cheated. But I don't know how!" He threw Mark's test paper down on his desk. "I dropped your grade because you showed virtually no working out."

Mark picked it up and stared at the grade in the corner. It was an A minus.

"Dude," said Chuck, "and you were freaking out! Ha!"

"He got an A minus?" wondered Mark. Then he remembered what the test had been about. He checked it on the top of the paper. The test had been about electricity.

* * *

"_Well, Pete, now Ace does understand what I have to go through. But it isn't easy being a superhero either, mate. I guess I never thought that maybe I'm not the only one who's got to put up with this game. Everyone always thinks the grass is going to be greener on the other side. But it's not. I suppose we've just got to stick with what we've got. 'Cause no one else can."_


End file.
